Leeds Public Schools Public Meeting Sept. 19, 2015

2014 Taxes

2015 Taxes

Comparison

Increase in Property taxes $940, (2015) -$837, (2014) = $ 102, Increase in Property Taxes = 12.24% increase in real Property Taxes At the same time Taxable Valuation increased $10,992,912 (2015 est.) $10,085,240 (2014) $907,672 Difference or an increase of 9.0%

Staffing Needs One might think that with reduced payroll due to retiring teachers, it would have helped this year. The change-over in staff did in fact help. Last year’s total payroll for certified staff was $1,080, This year’s total payroll was 1,287,229.68

Causes of Increase Blue Cross Blue Shield increased by 9.8% Our Base Salary increased by 2.14% We also increased our share of Teacher Retirement payments from $3,000 to $3,500 Representing a 16.7% increase. Our teachers are still the least compensated in the area. We are just barely competitive with area districts.

State Funding Deficit In addition, the state, in effect, said we need to raise an additional $62, in property taxes. Also, due to declining enrollment we also lost $36,850 in per pupil payments. This was a total of $99,419 less in state aid from the previous year. That is what we basically made up in property taxes.

Tax History

What does this mean for ME?? In 2014 property taxes on a home with a true and full of $100,000 was $ In 2015 property taxes on that same home will be $ This amounts to an increase of $11.11 or a 2.97% increase. Property value for that home did not increase If property value increases, property taxes also increase.

Comparison with Other Districts If you go to the following website: You will see that Leeds had a Per Pupil Expenditure of $12, in Out of the 83 school districts with populations of less than 200 students, this puts us at 56 th in terms of Per Pupil Expenditures.

Conclusion Please keep in mind that 10 mills of property tax are being levied to help pay for the school improvements which included new windows and a new heating and air conditioning system. In addition we have increased our Building fund to pay for other school improvements. This year we painted the outside of the building. The hope is, in the future, we will be able to reduce our building fund levy. Please feel free to walk around the school and look at the work that was done. Thank-you